Sticking with my myeloma treatment all came down to a smartphone app

I used to say if I needed to take a pill every day to survive, I’d be dead in a week. So it felt like a great cosmic joke when my multiple myeloma diagnosis came with multiple medications.

There was acyclovir to prevent shingles, sodium bicarbonate to help my cancer-damaged kidneys, cyclophosphamide to treat the cancer itself, and dexamethasone to fight the myeloma and make the rest of my treatments work better. I had to take some of these daily, some weekly. One morning per week, I had to take 27 pills all at once!

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I’ve never been good at taking medicines, especially over a long period of time. When my symptoms go away, I tend to forget the medication. I’m no better with over-the-counter supplements, either.

So you can probably imagine my trepidation when I got the list of prescriptions I’d need to take during induction, that initial four months of treatment before my stem cell transplant. How was I going to remember them all? Especially since I wasn’t experiencing symptoms that would remind me to take my medications?

There’s an app for that

Initially I went analog. I still have the planner I picked up at the start of my myeloma journey. There’s an entry on June 3, 2019 titled “TAKE BIG DOSE!” That was the first time I took those 27 morning pills, with enough water to make me feel a bit queasy afterward. I eventually learned to get the pills down with less water and less queasiness.

The planner was helpful for those big dose days. But I also had to take two pills at lunch and five more after supper, and I just wasn’t going to get all of those into my paper planner, which wasn’t always with me anyway. Nor was I going to set up a pill minder box. I could get it all filled the first time, but I knew once it was empty, it would stay empty!

My phone, however, was something I could set once and not have to reset. So I downloaded an app, entered all my medications, and scheduled reminders for taking them. At reminder time, my phone made an annoying noise to get my attention, and I’d take my pills. I never had to do anything more unless my prescriptions changed. Easy-peasy. I kept using the app until I went off maintenance treatment in 2022.

Rebooting my reminders

I wish I could say my cancer experience made me better about remembering medications. It didn’t. I just cleared a bunch of vitamin bottles from my medicine cabinet. The oldest one has an expiration date of June 2023, and it’s more than half full. Worse, I’m currently on metoprolol for an occasional irregular heartbeat, and sometimes I forget to take it – until my heart reminds me by racing!

So I’ve updated my app and entered my new medication, which I know will make my cardiologist happy!

I haven’t mentioned which app I’m using. While there are many available, I’m using MediSafe. Experiment to see what works for you.

There are lots of things about myeloma that are hard. I’ve found that a little tech can make some of it a bit easier.

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